Spirals of Madness
by Kawakami-Aya
Summary: When an old enemy begins stealing magical items from others in Gensokyo, Reimu, Marisa, and company are forced to contend with this threat before they release an ancient, and violent entity sealed beneath the Hakurei Shrine.


"What am I going to do all day?" wondered Hakurei Reimu. The sole miko of the Hakurei Shrine was sitting on the front steps of her aforementioned place of worship, a cup of hot green tea by her left side and a plate with four triangular white Onigiri, or balls of rice wrapped in seaweed, by her right. Behind Reimu was her only fellow resident, a freeloading oni by the name of Suika. She was still passed out after a night of excessive drinking, clutching her magical bottomless sake gourd tightly in her arms as if it was her own child.

The sun was rising, painting the landscape in a brilliant orange light. As the Hakurei Shrine was situated on a mountain, Reimu could see most of Gensokyo from the top of the steps leading up the hill to her shrine. The bright green of the trees and foliage of the Forest of Magic could be seen to the northwest. The dirt trail, the only safe path through the forest, was barely visible underneath the thick concentration of green. To the North of the Forest was the deep blue of the Misty Lake, located at the foot of the tall gray of Youkai Mountain, Gensokyo's highest peak. On a small island in the middle of the lake was the bright red "Scarlet Devil Mansion", whose secretive dwellers rarely allowed anyone inside. Directly north from the Shrine on the opposite edge of Gensokyo, was the bright yellow Garden of the Sun, an enormous field of twelve-foot tall sunflowers. A narrow blue river ran through the middle of Gensokyo, flowing westward. Although Reimu couldn't see it from the direction she was facing, she knew that the Sanzu River was located south of the Hakurei Shrine, and beyond that, was the Netherworld.

As a miko, Reimu was a slacker. She rarely attended to the spiritual duties that were expected of her. However, Reimu blamed this on the fact that no worshippers ever came to the shrine. For the most part, Youkai were not particularly religious, and very few humans were willing to brave the treacherous forest of magic just to pray at a shrine, when there was a shrine of much closer proximity to the human village at the top of Youkai Mountain. Not only that, but the journey there was inevitably much safer even despite the large numbers of Youkai living there. In fact, outside of Reimu's very small circle of close friends, the shrine didn't have any regular visitors at all, except for...

"Moooorning Reimu~"

...that damn Crow Tengu.

Shameimaru Aya usually came by early every morning, and when she did, she would greet Reimu in a cheery, singsong voice like she had done just now. Reimu knew that if she looked behind her, she would see the same sight she saw every morning. The young, cute and fair features of Aya, a girl of about 18 or 19 in appearance. Her brown eyes would be radiating an aura of energy and her thick black hair which went past her shoulders would be neatly combed and maintained, and would have a faint aroma of cinnamon. She would be dressed in a white blouse and a black skirt, both of which had an orange-brown leaf-print stripe running down the opposite side, left side on the blouse, right side on the skirt. She would be wearing a black tie around her neck, which was often loose and somewhat crooked. She would also be wearing her camera strap around her neck. Like Suika with her sake gourd, Aya would keep her small, black camera with her at all times.

"Forget it, Aya." Reimu grumbled. "I'm not going to buy any of your stupid newspapers. All your articles are crap, anyways. Go bother someone else."

Whereas some would be offended by Reimu's inflammatory comments, Aya only grinned. "I'm not the kind of journalist who gives up with just a few rejections." She beamed, thrusting her index finger in Reimu's direction.

"Well then, would you give up knowing that my answer will still be "no" no matter how many times you ask me?"

"Absolutely not!" And with that, Aya laughed. She had a high-pitched, cheerful, boisterous laugh. Aya was the kind of person who would never get upset, angry, or go away no matter what Reimu would say to her. Reimu hated that about her.

"I can't understand you." Reimu moaned in frustration, rubbing her temples with her palms. "I honestly don't understand why you persist. You're beating your head against a brick wall. Why don't you just-"

Reimu was cut off in mid-sentence when she noticed another had arrived at the steps of the shrine. This was a fully-grown woman. She was dressed in a light pink and purple dress wearing a matching pink mob cap with a red ribbon tied on the front. The pink of her clothes was so bright it was almost white. She was carrying a big pink parasol, which was resting on her shoulder. Her hair was long and bright blonde, but her most distinctive feature was her eyes. Those dark golden eyes that seemed to stare right through you, down to your very soul, unraveling all your secrets, regrets, fears, and desires.

"My my~" Yukari Yakumo proclaimed in a tone that was very refined, but at the same time, somewhat casual. "I do hope you two are getting along alright."

"Miss Yukari." Reimu stood up. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Yukari smiled. She had a nice, gentle smile that always put you at ease. "It's always wonderful to see you Reimu, unfortunately it's not you I'm here to visit. I'd like to have a few words with Miss Shameimaru, if you would be so kind."

Reimu glanced at Aya. The journalist had stiffened up, her posture comparable to that of a soldier standing at attention. She was no longer cheerful and optimistic. Her face bore a placid expression almost devoid of emotion, but she almost seemed to be a little sad. This wasn't like her usual self. While Reimu normally couldn't stand her bouncy, go-getter personality, Aya's sudden change of mood was somewhat unsettling.

"Well Aya, would you be so kind as to accompany me on a walk around the shrine?"

"Sure." Aye replied. "I'll come."

Yukari walked off in the direction of the shrine wagging her finger in the Tengu's direction. Aya followed about three paces behind when...

"GUWAH!"

...something underneath her screamed. To her surprise, Aya found that her foot was planted firmly on the belly of Ibuki Suika. The oni's childlike face was grimaced in pain, and her thin pale arms were swatting at the air.

"Gerroff!" Suika groaned, her speech slurred by a particularly bad hangover. Aya quickly removed her foot from the disturbed oni's abdomen, and after a particularly awkward moment of silence, Suika rose to a slouched seating position, rubbing her the back of her head. She seemed to take absolutely no notice of the Tengu journalist who had just accidentally stepped on her. "Man..." Suika complained. "My head is splittin' open..."

Without a word, Aya turned away briskly walked after Yukari. Reimu was a little bothered by how she didn't take the time to apologize, but then arrived at the conclusion that Suika, who was already bringing her sake gourd to her lips, probably would have absolutely no memory of this little incident at all.

When Aya turned away, Reimu noticed something flat and white fall to the ground. One of her stupid newspapers? Reimu stood up, and walked past Suika, who was gorging herself on alcohol from her sake gourd, and examined the fallen newspaper.

Normally, she wouldn't have bothered to read the Tengu's ridiculous newspaper. She probably would have tossed it in the garbage. But something about the headline stood out to her. _"Kirisame Magic Shop Robbed!" _

That was the shop owned by Marisa Kirisame, Reimu's best friend.

And before she knew it, the paper was in her hands, and she was reading.

_"On the twelfth day of this month, about half past eleven PM, a breaking and entering occurred at the Human Village Branch of the Kirisame Magic Shop. There was very little property damage, save for a door that had been smashed open, and not very much in the way of stolen property. However, one item, which was described by the store owner as a "magic tool" was taken by the culprit."_

_ "Its not like it was anything particularly important." says owner Marisa Kirisame. "They didn't take my mini-hakkero or anything of that nature. It was just some dusty old box that I never use. To be perfectly honest I'm not even sure why anyone would want it."_

_ "While Miss Kirisame doesn't seem to be concerned about the theft, she wasn't willing to disclose what this magic tool is supposed to be used for. Personally, I think this act of withholding information is a little suspicious, especially for someone with a history of burglarizing the property of others. Wouldn't you agree?"_

It was just like Aya to put her own opinions in her articles. That was why Reimu never read them.

She was about to set the paper down, when she heard a voice. It was very faint, and sounded as if it was coming from a great distance, but a voice nonetheless.

"...honestly, what am I going to do with you?"

It was the voice of Yukari Yakumo, and it was coming from behind the shrine's storehouse.

Jogging in the direction of the voice, until she reached the storehouse, Reimu pressed herself against the walls of the building, edged along to the side, and peered around the corner. The realization that she was eavesdropping didn't hit her until after this fact.

There was Aya, but not her usual self. Not peppy and full of energy. Her head was solemnly bent low, and although Reimu couldn't see her face, she was sure that Aya bore an expression as if she was being crushed by several hundred-pound weights.

"Is writing your newspaper all you care about?" Yukari's voice called out from around the corner. It seemed Yukari was scolding Aya, but why? She was no subordinate of Yukari. While Reimu couldn't see the woman from around the corner, she was certain that Yukari was very disappointed in something the Crow Tengu had done.

Aya didn't reply to Yukari's question. "Do you remember your promise?" Yukari's voiced asked. "The one you made all those centuries ago?" The journalist did not answer. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember."

"I haven't forgotten."

"Hm?"

"I haven't forgotten." Aya repeated, raising her head. Her gaze was fixed on someone in front of her, it had to be Yukari.

"I remember it perfectly. But...what can I do? Even if something were to happen, there's nothing I can do to protect Gensokyo that Reimu can't do herself." Aya dropped her head again, as if she were staring at the ground, but her eyes told Reimu she wasn't looking at anything in particular. "...Reimu doesn't need someone like me...I stop by the Shrine every morning to see how she's doing. That's just about all I can do."

"You know as well as I do that she wouldn't have asked you to make this promise if she didn't know that the Hakurei would need your help one day." Yukari's voice answered. Aya replied with a silent nod.

"Then we have nothing further to discuss. Have a pleasant day, Miss Shameimaru."

With what she had intended to do complete, Yukari would most likely leave. She had a habit of suddenly appearing then disappearing without prior notice.

Aya turned away from the person she was speaking to, and began to walk in Reimu's direction. Startled that she was about to be discovered, the Hakurei miko attempted to retreat along the wall of the storehouse. However, she was not fast enough, and Reimu could feel Aya's inquisitive stare on the back of her neck.

Turning to look, Reimu could see that Aya was not visibly upset by the fact that she had been listening in on their conversation. Instead, Aya pointed towards Reimu's hand. "Did you read?"

Looking down, Reimu could see that she was still holding the Issue of "Bunbunmaru", Aya's newspaper, in her left hand. "Oh...well, kind of."

"Then that means I won." And Aya grinned her big, joyful grin. Whatever had transpired between her and Yukari, she was back to her usual self.

"Aya...what was that all about? That conversation?" Reimu had heard her name mentioned twice. She felt she had a right to know. "If something's going on, you can tell me. I don't always mean to be so harsh to you, you know."

The journalist looked skyward, her face again a blank slate. "When you need to know, you'll know." Was her only answer at first.

"You're lucky." She continued after a brief pause, meeting Reimu eye to eye. "Your life is completely carefree. You don't have to worry about any fears or responsibilities with the way things are now. What kind of person would I be if I took that away from you?"

Reimu wasn't exactly sure how to take this. She simply watched as Aya walked down the steps leading away from the shrine. The events that transpired this morning had certainly given her a better understanding of the intrepid reporter. However, it raised a whole new set of questions along with it.


End file.
